Playbooks

Y Cross

Shotgun·Tight·11
Likely unavailable in the playbook builder
This play belongs to no NFL team or scheme playbook, so it may not appear in the in-game builder.

Quick Reference

FormationShotgun

In 1 playbook

Air Raid Classic OffenseOffense

Breakdown

Y Cross is a man beater built around the tight end running a deep crossing route from one side of the formation all the way to the opposite numbers, occupying the middle of the field while shallow and intermediate routes clear out underneath. The concept pairs the Y crosser with a corner or dig route on the backside and a flat or drag route to hold linebackers, giving the quarterback a clean levels read from deep to shallow. Primary progression starts with the Y Cross crossing the field, then works to the backside corner route if a safety jumps the crosser, and finally checks down to the underneath flat or HB route against tight man coverage.

Defensive Reads

Check the safety alignment pre-snap, a single high safety indicates man coverage underneath which favors the Y crosser winning versus a linebacker or slot corner Watch for a hard flat foot linebacker or a robber defender sitting in the intermediate middle zone, this is the primary lurk threat that can jump the crossing route if you telegraph the throw Identify Cover 3 cloud or sky rotations by cornerback depth, if the corner sinks into a deep third the crosser has room to run before the safety can rotate over Recognize double mug looks or overload blitz packages pre-snap since the Y crosser's route takes extra time to develop and can be vulnerable if protection breaks down before the crosser clears traffic Diagnose zone match coverage by tracking if the underneath defender opens hips with the crosser or stays flat footed, a defender who mirrors the route in real time signals a zone match shell that can undercut the throw

Usage Tips

Look for single high safety shells like Cover 1 or Cover 3 before the snap since the Y crosser will pick up serious yardage running away from man defenders in those shells

Use the crosser as a rhythm throw on third and medium, releasing the ball as soon as the tight end clears the opposite hash to beat trailing linebackers and nickel defenders

If the defense shows Cover 2 or Cover 4 with two deep safeties, hot route the crosser into a shallow drag or bench the play for All Cross or Tight Crosses which stress zone defenders with double horizontal crossers

Pair this play in a sequence with HB Draw or Read Option out of the same Tight personnel to keep linebackers honest on run fits before coming back to Y Cross off a similar pre-snap look

Against man pressure or blitz-heavy defenses, get the ball out on time to the Y crosser since the route naturally works away from blitzing linebackers and creates immediate separation

Other Plays in Tight